Indian shares recover on energy, IT boost

Indian shares recovered from session lows to end Thursday higher, helped by energy and IT stocks, with a 6 per cent rally in Reliance Industries leading the way.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) ended up 0.7 per cent at 17,536.25, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) rose 0.78 per cent to 58,795.09.

“A lot of shopping has happened with Reliance stocks since the company announced a halt in its deal with Saudi Arabia’s Aramco,” said Rahul Shah, VP-Equity Advisory at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

He added the oil-to-telecom conglomerate’s plan to transfer its gasification assets to a unit, its recent emphasis on clean energy businesses and a possible telecom tariff rate hike are helping investor sentiment.

Reliance shares (RELI.NS) rose as much as 6.22 per cent, its best day in nearly six months, before ending up 6.02 per cent. The stock boosted the Nifty Energy Index (.NIFTYENR) by 2.4 per cent.

IT stocks (.NIFTYIT) rose 0.96 per cent. Coforge Ltd (COFO.NS) and MindTree Ltd (MINT.NS) rose 2.33 per cent and 1.56 per cent. Most sectoral indexes, except financial stocks, ended the session up.

Sentiment was also aided after ratings agency Moody’s said India’s progress on coronavirus vaccinations will support “sustained recovery in economic activity”, and projected a GDP growth of 9.3 per cent and 7.9 per cent in fiscal 2022 and 2023 respectively.

Shares of consumer goods majors Hindustan Unilever (HLL.NS) and Colgate Palmolive India (COLG.NS) ended 1.08 per cent and 0.96 per cent lower, while peers ITC Ltd (ITC.NS) and Dabur India (DABU.NS) recovered from the day’s losses.